La Mundana

Outside is an ordinary Sants pavement, shutters and buses, nothing that promises a room cooking with intent. My first visit here was unplanned (the happy kind of drift), and I remember being surprised more than impressed. Going back on purpose is a different test; you arrive carrying expectations, and the kitchen has to clear them. It did, mostly. The vermouth-bar format keeps the plates small and the thinking tight, and what struck me second time round was the discipline underneath the ease, salt judged rather than guessed, each dish built with evident attention. One or two coasted, and I'll say so. But the value held up under a harder look, which is my own quiet test of anywhere, and the room still belongs to the neighbourhood that eats in it. I'll be back when the year turns.